0We were picked up at 2pm and were at the wharf by 2:15pm. There was no signage anywhere, and 3 catamarans tied up at the wharf. One was loading, the other two were deserted. I asked at a ticket kiosk on the way in and got a grunt and a point in the general direction of two boats. I asked at the one that was loading and got pointed to a smaller sleek looking catamaran. We joined a growing group of confused looking people.
The catamaran began loading, we showed him our ticket, he asked where we were going and told us to board. So we did. The catamaran left the wharf ontime at 3:00pm, so we are optimistic that we are heading in the right direction. The were less than 50 people on the catamaran, it looks as though it would take around 200+ when full, so we had plenty of room.
Cruising out of the harbour was good, a huge road bridge to starboard and a few marinas to port. On the north, starboard side there were houses dotted along the coastline (there are some big homes amongst them), while on the southern, Port, side, it was a mix of bush and marinas. The water is very calm.
The woman behind us talked in a whinny high voice about absolutely nothing for the first 45 minutes journey! She then went to sleep. Deb had her earplugs in early and my hearing aids went off not long after. Some people have no idea!
Most if not all of the islands we passed on the way to Korcula seemed uninhabited. Being very rocky and steep with a lack of power and water services wouldn’t help I guess, not much chance of sustaining yourself. The passages between the islands, and the islands and the mainland are pretty narrow.
Our catamaran called to Pomena, Mljet at about 4:25pm. A few got off, a few got on. It’s a small settlement on the northern end of the island. It looks like a holiday destination, with 3 or 4 day cruise boats tied up at the wharf and quite a few sailing boats. The stop was about 10 mins and then we were on our way to Korcula.
On all our ferry rides it has been interesting to follow our course on google maps. Breaks the boredom and feeds my trivia bucket.
We arrived at Korcula at 5:10am and were picked up by Matthew in a golf style resort buggy. We got dropped off at our hotel, the Aminess Korcula Heritage Hotel, an olde world style hotel. Our room is “interesting”, in an upstairs downstairs sort of way. We are on the “2nd“ floor, I use the “ “ for good reason. It’s actually the 3rd floor, they just don’t count the management offices and I assume residence as a floor of the hotel. And the kicker is, yes, no lift! And our view over the dock area of the waterfront is either through a tiny, waist high window on our “ground floor” or through the loft windows from our loft bedroom. Enough whining!
Korcula is a medieval Walled town and the birth place of Marco Polo. But more of that another day
We went out for dinner at a restaurant recommended by the girl on the front desk. We wanted local simple food that the locals here might eat at. She did pretty well directing us to Adio Mare. We got a table outside on the roof of the building next to the 15th century St Mark’s church/Cathedral. It wasn’t long and the bells began to ring, very loudly.
They rang for a few minutes then stopped. They rang every fifteen minutes or so until 7pm, then they had a single ring on the quarter hour.
We ordered, I had Pasticada (Braised Beef Korcula style), Deb ordered Charcoal-grilled Squid and a side salad. We shared the mains, passing our plates over. Both meals were good but the squid was very good, and served in an interesting way. I had a local beer, the best I’ve had in Croatia and Deb had a glass of dry white wine.
After dinner we went for a bit of a walk around the old town. We got into St Mark’s just before it shut for the day, it was an interesting church. We knew it was time to leave when the nun turned the lights out! :p We then found a gelato shop, and sat and enjoyed one each.
From there we went down to the waterfront and sat near the edge of the dock and watched the sunset. It was very pretty. We noticed there were lots of small fish in the waterhole, more than we have seen anywhere else on this holiday. Unusually, the waterway had a slight oil film on it.
It was then back to our “Upstairs/Downstairs” upstairs upstairs. And our day was done.
Well it would have been but Deb went to boil the kettle for tea and coffee when she noticed a lot of floaty bits in the kettle. Deb rang the front desk and tried to explain the problem to a person for whom English was probably there 4th language, an interesting conversation not to be part of. But we got another kettle, slightly better than the original, with no floaty bits. Time for a cuppa and a good lie down. Might buy some bottled water tomorrow!!
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